Last year Saracen launched a trio of high-value aluminium framed gravel machines under the Levarg name. Starting at £1,100 for the base Levarg and stretching to Levarg OR with the Fox AX suspension fork at £2,300, it looks like budget gravellistas are now more spoilt than ever. off-road.cc have got the Levarg SL in for test and word on the street (ahem, gravel) is that they can’t wait to get riding!

All the bikes use the same pleasingly shapely butted aluminium frame which comes with a bolt-through 12x142mm back end and tapered steerer, even on the base model. You can run 650b or 700c wheels – apparently, it was designed around the former with fat 47mm tyres which meant sticking pretty fat 700c rubber in isn’t an issue.

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Saracen-Levarg-gravel-bike-First-Look-review-101 (Image Credit: Jon Woodhouse)

Oh, and if you were wondering about the name, it’s just gravel spelt backwards – and no, we’re not sure where to place the emphasis either; the screamy Lev-ARG or the more Gallic Le Varg.

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Saracen-Levarg-gravel-bike-First-Look-review-103 (Image Credit: Jon Woodhouse)

The bike the look of somewhat mountain bike infused gravel about it with a reasonably slack head angle and tall head tube, which is unsurprising considering the brand’s off-road heritage. With that in mind, it’s also not that surprising that the 27.2mm seat tube is routed for a dropper post, should you want to bend even more genres, geometry chart is below for a medium sized bike. 

Saracen Levarg geometry
Saracen Levarg geometry (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)

 

Saracen Levarg

The three bike lineup starts with the plain Levarg at £1,100. It’s a rather fetching shade of orange and comes with a twin ring Shimano drivetrain with FSA chainset, with stopping handled by TRP cable discs. The fork is carbon legged with an alloy steerer and you get a pair of 650b wheels with WTB Venture tyres in 47mm.
 

Saracen Levarg SL (our test bike)

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Saracen-Levarg-gravel-bike-First-Look-review-100 (Image Credit: Jon Woodhouse)

Splashing out £1,349 gets you the SRAM Apex 1x11spd equipped SL, which also comes with a full carbon fork with a rather cool camo paintjob. Stoppers are also from TRP, with the cable-actuated but hydraulically pistoned TRP Hy Rds. The rubber is the same as the base Levarg, which is no bad thing as we like how versatile it is. Weight is claimed at 10.74kg.

Saracen Levarg OR

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Saracen-Levarg-gravel-bike-First-Look-review-106 (Image Credit: Jon Woodhouse)

Is it mountain bike? Is it gravel? Is it hyper gravel? We don’t know, but if you lob another grand into the pot, you get a 40mm travel Fox 32 Step Cast Adventure Cross fork strapped to the front plus a SRAM Apex 1x11spd group, this time complete with hydraulic stoppers.

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Saracen-Levarg-gravel-bike-First-Look-review-108 (Image Credit: Jon Woodhouse)

It also gets a manually operated dropper post so you can unleash your gravelly radness at will. As you’ve got a bit more give up front, the 650b rubber is slightly skinnier at 42mm and weight is now claimed at 11.15kg.

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Saracen-Levarg-gravel-bike-First-Look-review-109 (Image Credit: Jon Woodhouse)

We are sending this bike out with road.cc’s Dave Arthur, check back soon for his review. 

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